It’s Women’s Equality Day

Once a year we celebrate, recognize and sometimes, let’s be honest, feel equally liberated and a little defeated on Women’s Equality Day.

In 1920 on this day women were granted the right to vote to give themselves a voice and a choice in their future and the future of women for generations to come. For women, many years had been fought to secure our right to the ballot box and we thank all individuals for sacrificing themselves so that we could have this right today. The fight is still ongoing to ensure that unnecessary obstacles are not put in the way of a woman casting her vote.

We continue every single day to make strides forward, even when we feel defeated. The gender pay gap, our struggle to take control of our healthcare decisions and reproductive rights, easy access to the ballot box, and other issues affect our daily lives.

Today we celebrate how far we’ve come and we celebrate every single crack on that glass ceiling. Those strides forward and those accomplishments are not taken for granted or forgotten. But you can’t help but think, “shouldn’t every day be women’s equality day?”

Don’t get me started on the Trump Administration and Republicans on the national, state and local level that continue to push us back and tell us that we can be successful, but not too successful and that we can make decisions for ourselves, just not this decision or that decision.

We still have a lot of fighting to do and we, at the West Virginia Democratic Party, are up for the fight.

We do not take our accomplishments for granted and we will continue to fight so that women and children will grow up to have the same rights without deterrence as men do.

As Democrats, we believe that women should get equal pay for equal work and those female workers shouldn’t be punished for starting a family. We believe that women should be able to make their own medical decisions and have access to good quality health care. We believe that there should be no unscary obstacles placed in front of our path to the ballot box. We believe in equal rights and we will not stop fighting. Thank you all for fighting along with us.

Sincerely,

Belinda Biafore, Chair

Paid for by the West Virginia Democratic Party.
Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.